


The Remaking of David Rose

by houdini74



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Committed Relationship, Fluff and Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 01:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,721
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17909771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/houdini74/pseuds/houdini74
Summary: Rose Apothecary is featured in a national magazine but the response is not what David expected.





	The Remaking of David Rose

“Relax, David. It’s going to be fine.” The nervousness in Patrick’s voice gave the opposite impression.

“You don’t even believe that.” David was pacing back and forth in front of the counter at the store, gesturing wildly as he spoke. “Nothing about this is going to be fine. We never should have agreed to this.”

“When is she supposed to get here? Maybe we can close the store and hide in the back room before she arrives,” David continued.

“David…” Patrick came out from behind the store counter and stood in his boyfriend’s path. For a second, he thought that David might actually push him aside before he came to a stop immediately in front of Patrick. Patrick reached out and gripped David’s shoulders. “It will be fine. It’s just a profile of the store. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“It’s not just a profile of the store!” David exclaimed. “It’s a profile in a national magazine. This could be a really big deal for the store.”

“I know it could,” Patrick agreed. “That’s why we said we’d do it.”

“Why are you so worked up anyway? It’s not like you’ve never done an interview before.” Patrick recalled some of the articles that had turned up when he’d googled David right after they first met. Giving interviews for his art gallery had been a fairly regular occurrence in David’s past life.

David’s mouth twisted. “I just…I’m worried that she’ll figure out who I am. Who I was.”

“So what if she does? If anything, it makes what we’ve done with the store even more impressive.” Patrick pulled David close and kissed him tenderly. He pulled back, leaving his hands on David’s shoulders, squeezing gently.

The bell on the door jingled and a petite woman wearing a tailored pale turquoise green suit came into the store. Patrick could tell that her bobbed hair was not naturally blond and everything about her reminded him of someone who was trying too hard. She was followed by a dark-haired man wearing jeans and a khaki shirt who was holding a camera in one hand. 

The woman’s eyes immediately skipped over Patrick, landing on David.

“David Rose?” she asked. “I’m Lydia Cardinal from Artistic Business magazine.” 

“That’s me,” David replied awkwardly. “And this is my business partner, Patrick Brewer.”

“More than a...business...partner, it looks like,” Lydia replied archly. Patrick immediately felt uncomfortable, but he extended his hand for Lydia to shake. 

“I’m Patrick, David’s business partner and...boyfriend,” he said as confidently as he could. He glanced at the photographer, but no introduction was forthcoming. 

Lydia stepped forward and placed her hand flirtatiously on David’s arm. Patrick stepped back, resisting the urge to pull David towards him. His flash of jealousy caused him to miss part of what Lydia was saying.

“...I would like to do is sit down with you while Kevin takes some photos of your store.” Lydia gestured at the photographer, who had wandered to the back of the store. “Perhaps Patrick could show Kevin around while we have a chat?”

David looked like a deer in the headlights. “Patrick and I are partners,” he stammered. “I think it would be better to talk to both of us.”

“Of course I want to talk to...Patrick as well,” she replied. “Let’s you and I visit first and I can catch up any missing details with Patrick afterwards. I think that cafe across the street will do nicely.”

With that, she grasped David by the arm and towed him out the door towards the cafe. 

Patrick smiled awkwardly at Kevin who was taking photos of David’s carefully arranged displays.

“If you need anything…” he trailed off.

“Uh huh,” the photographer responded, waving at Patrick absently. 

Patrick retreated to the front of the store, leaning against the counter and staring out the window, trying to convince himself that he was overreacting. Of course a magazine writer would be more interested in David’s flamboyance than what Patrick had to offer and it was David’s name on the store, not his. It was probably just irritation over Lydia’s flirtation with David that was causing him to react this way. Still…something about Lydia made him worry about the direction of the article.

After what seemed like half a lifetime, but was probably about 45 minutes, Patrick spotted David making his way across the street. As David came into the store, he grimaced at Patrick and spoke to Kevin.

“Lydia wants you to get some shots of me in the store,” he said. David crossed his arms on his chest and Patrick could see how uncomfortable he was. 

“Uh huh,” Kevin replied. He motioned David towards the window and pressed one of the potted herbs into his hands. David looked even more awkward.

“Put it on the shelf and hold that position,” Kevin instructed. After he was satisfied with that shot, Kevin guided David around the store, demanding he strike a variety of poses.

“Just one more shot with you in the doorway of the store.” Kevin pulled David outside and had him lean in the store’s entrance, snapping photos from several different angles. After a few minutes, Patrick saw him head for the cafe, presumably to meet up with Lydia. David paused in the doorway for a moment and Patrick saw him take a deep breath before he headed back inside.

“How did it go with Lydia?”

“I don’t like her,” David replied, crossing his arms and looking at Patrick. “I don’t like how she ignored you.”

“Yeah, I didn’t like her much either.” Patrick slid his arms around David’s waist. “But it doesn’t matter to me that she only wanted to talk to you. It’s your name on the store, of course she’s more interested in you.”

“You know I can’t do this without you,” David said. “And even if I could, I wouldn’t want to.”

“I know.”

Patrick leaned close to kiss David. David wrapped his arms around Patrick’s neck, returning the kiss gently.

Just then, both their phones chimed announcing new messages. Patrick picked up his phone and saw a text from Stevie to both him and David.

**2:23 pm There’s a woman here asking questions**  
2:24 pm Blond in a green suit?  
 **2:25 pm That’s her. She’s not one of your exes, is she?**  
 _2:26 pm No, I have much better taste than that!_  
2:27 pm She’s writing a magazine piece about the store  
 **2:28 pm Then why is she asking about your personal life?**

That was a very good question, Patrick thought to himself. His unease about the article increased.

 

**Eight Weeks Later**

David had gone to Elmdale to meet with a new supplier, so when the mail arrived, Patrick was minding the store by himself. Pulling the issue of Artistic Business from the pile, he saw a portrait of David leaning casually in the doorway of the store staring back at him from the magazine’s cover under the headline “ _The Remaking of David Rose_.” 

Patrick flipped to the article, looking through the photos before reading the article. Kevin had done a good job, there were several photos of David looking gorgeous in the soft lighting of the store. The article also included a number of close-ups of their displays and products and the captions included the pricing and online ordering information. At first glance, he was pleased with how the article looked. He turned back to the beginning and began to read.

_David Rose, past owner of New York’s Prometheus Gallery and former scion to the Rose Video fortune is remaking his future and his past through the small town artisanal shop Rose Apothecary._

_Rose, who was once best known for his on-again off-again relationship with photographer Sebastian Raine, has been linked to dozens of high-profile men and women over the years, including celebrities such as Anderson Cooper. In contrast, current boyfriend and so-called business partner Patrick Brewer appears noteworthy only for his lack of sophistication._

Patrick raised his eyebrows at this description. Since it gave David something to tease him about, he tended to embrace his lack of style, but he was not happy about the insinuation of being David’s “so-called” business partner.

_As for the store owner, Rose has clearly not lost any of his sense for fashion or the modern aesthetic and Rose Apothecary is a delightful oasis amidst a sea of small town mediocrity._

The article continued, painting a gushing picture of David and the store that was intermingled with detailed reminiscences of about David’s past conquests and cutting comments about Schitt’s Creek. 

_If anything has changed about David Rose since his family’s loss of fortune five years ago, it is perhaps a new found sense of modesty. Rose credits boyfriend Patrick Brewer for his business acumen, however, that apparent shrewdness seems small in contrast to the legacy of Rose Video._

Patrick gritted his teeth and finished the article. Other than the parts about him and Schitt’s Creek it was actually a good profile of David and the store. But he knew David wouldn’t be happy with the article. He sighed and put his head in his hands. Maybe he could hide the magazine from David, he thought. Except that wouldn’t work for long, David had asked about the article just yesterday.

The bell over the door rang and Jocelyn came into the store. 

“Oh Patrick, are you okay?” Jocelyn reached across the counter and patted Patrick on the arm. 

“I’m fine, Jocelyn. What can I help you with?”

“It’s just, we’ve all seen the article…” She trailed off, looking uncomfortable.

“How have you seen the article?” Patrick asked. “And who is all?”

“Well, it’s online…” Jocelyn looked even more uncomfortable than before. “Rollie gets an alert every time there’s a news story about Schitt’s Creek, so we saw it right away.”

“God Jocelyn, I am so sorry.”

Patrick hadn’t even considered that the article would be online. He cringed inwardly, expecting that Jocelyn and the other townspeople would be blaming him and David for generating bad press for Schitt’s Creek. 

“I know David would never say anything bad about Schitt’s Creek,” Patrick wasn’t actually sure that was true, but there was nothing in the article that indicated that David had said anything about the town.

“Patrick, it’s okay. Do you think this is the first article to say awful things about Schitt’s Creek? It’s probably not even the first one this month. Just two weeks ago there was that travel article “30 Towns So Forgettable, They Take 30 Seconds to Visit. They named us number one.”

“I’m more worried about how you’re doing. That woman shouldn’t have made you seem like you were just one of David’s...groupies, we all know you run the store together. And without you, David would just have an empty space and some boxes of hand cream.”

“You tell David that if he needs us to boycott Artistic Business magazine, that we’re all behind him.”

Patrick grinned, trying to envision what a town boycott would look like. He didn’t imagine that the magazine was relying on the townspeople of Schitt’s Creek for its subscription dollars. Despite that, he appreciated Jocelyn’s support, not just of the store, but of David. Even though the entire Rose family still saw themselves as removed from the locals, the bonds had become deeper than any of them liked to admit.

A short time after Jocelyn left, David came into the store carrying a large box from their new supplier. He kissed Patrick on the cheek and set the box of knit hats on the counter.

“Okay, Stevie is being very weird. She texted me two hours ago to ask if I’d seen “it” and when I asked what I was supposed to have seen, she never responded.”

“David...promise me you won’t freak out,” Patrick squeezed David’s shoulders.

“That’s very reassuring and definitely the best way to keep that from happening. What’s going on?!”

Patrick picked up the magazine from the counter and handed it to David.

“It came. How is it? Oh god, there’s something wrong isn’t there? Did she hate the store? Did she hate my clothes? I knew that Givenchy sweater was too much.”

“David,” Patrick said firmly. “Just read the article.”

Leaving David at the front counter, Patrick grabbed the box of hats, an inventory sheet, and a roll of the Rose Apothecary labels and headed to the back of the store to tag and display their new items. He could hear David muttering “Fuck, fuck, fuck” to himself as he read the article.

About fifteen minutes later, David tossed the magazine onto the counter and strode towards Patrick. Wrapping his arms around Patrick’s shoulders, David pulled him close. 

“That is not okay.”

“David, it’s fine,” Patrick pulled back so that he could look David in the eye. “The parts about the store are pretty good and the photos look amazing. No one reads the articles anyway.”

“It’s not fine. She doesn’t have the right to come in here in her off-the-rack suit and imply that you’re just some hanger-on that I keep around for fun afternoons in the back room!”

“Aren’t I, though?” Patrick smirked.

David started to smile before his expression became serious again. 

“No. You’re not. When I was in New York there were dozens of people who came and went through the gallery and through my...back room...and none of them could hold a candle to you.”

Patrick felt the usual spasm of jealousy mixed with amazement that he got whenever David shared a particularly salacious detail about his past relationships. 

“Has anyone else seen it? Other than Stevie, I mean.”

Patrick winced. He took a deep breath.

“David….it’s online….the whole town’s seen it.”

“Oh god, they’re going to hate me. They’ll never shop here again.”

“I think it’s more likely that they’ll bring the torches and pitchforks if we want to storm the offices of the magazine,” Patrick replied. “Jocelyn’s already been in this morning to pledge her support.”

“Are you sure?” David looked confused. “Why would they go out of their way for me?”

Patrick smiled at David’s bewilderment. David might not think of Schitt’s Creek as home, but the people of Schitt’s Creek clearly thought of him as one of their own.

Over the course of the afternoon, numerous townspeople came by the store to say that they’d read the article. Ronnie came in to say that they shouldn’t worry about the article since she knew it wasn’t easy to find good things to say about Schitt’s Creek. Ray stopped in to critique the photographs and tell Patrick that he was clearly the brains of the operation. Even Roland came by to say how excited he was to see his family’s name in a national magazine.

By the time they were ready to close, Patrick could see that David’s emotions were about to overwhelm him. 

“Hey, are you okay?” Patrick asked. He could see that tears were threatening to well up in David’s eyes.

“I just had no idea that anyone here cared about the store, cared about me, at all.”

“I know you work at it, but you’re not that unlikeable,” Patrick joked.

David smiled shakily. He reached out to place his hands on Patrick’s shoulders. 

“You don’t understand. I’ve never lived anywhere where anyone cared that I was part of a community before. In New York, I didn’t even know the names of my neighbors and before that, well, let’s just say that being part of the illustrious Rose family didn’t exactly lend itself to building friendships.”

“Like it or not, David Rose, you’ve built something that’s part of this town,” Patrick replied.

“Even if I don’t like it, it’s probably too late,” David sighed. “I’m stuck with them, aren’t I?”

“Based on the article, I think they’d say that they’re stuck with you,” Patrick said, “But you’re definitely stuck with me. Even if I am just here for the fun afternoons in the back room.”

“You know,” David said. “It just happens to be afternoon right now. How about we go have some fun?”

“Hmmm. Well, I’d hate for an article in a national magazine to be wrong,” Patrick said as he let David pull him towards the back room.


End file.
